.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - The two American presidential candidates give the impression of being rather hostile towards China. This is counterproductive.
“The US should not adopt confrontation as a strategy of choice. In China, the US would encounter an adversary skilled over the centuries in using prolonged conflict as a strategy and whose doctrine emphasizes the psychological exhaustion of the opponent.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Russia announced on September 8 that it has decided to go where angels fear to tread – into the whirlpool of negotiations between Palestine and Israel. Long a preserve of the Americans and the French, the attempt to bring peace between the two and to make a final settlement on boundaries has frustrated them for decades. Can Russia do better?
Russia comes on the scene at a time when the script is perhaps about to be re-written in a radical way. After decades of negotiating around the premise that the only solution was a two-state arrangement with an independent Jewish state and an independent Palestinian state existing cheek by jowl, opinion in Palestine is shifting.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - The French ambassador to the U.S. from 1902 to 1924, Jean-Jules Jusserand, observed that distant powers could not easily threaten the U.S. because “On the north, she has a weak neighbour; on the south, another weak neighbour; on the east fish and on the west, fish”.
The coming of the submarine-based nuclear missile has not changed that. Apart from the fact that no enemy would dare use them for fear of retaliation, and that there is no country in the world that feels that hostile to America (accept North Korea), the fact is America is too big and too far away to be invaded and dominated. There could not be a blitzkrieg by a foreign army across the mid-west or a Vichy America.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - After 52 years of fighting between the Colombian government and FARC, the left wing, drug-dealing, Marxist, guerrilla grouping, there is a peace agreement.
I’ve always wondered why the U.S. and NATO never intervened militarily. They should have if they were to be consistent. Colombia has long been exhibit A for those who say, “Look what happens when the outside world doesn’t intervene – the local fires just burn brighter and fiercer”. (And it has been said likewise for Sri Lanka during its civil war.)
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - Politicians have it in their DNA to hype our supposed present dangers. So do journalists. So does the military-industrial complex. So do certain think tanks and university professors who depend on sounding the alarm about this and that to gain grants from foundations.
When Leon Panetta was defence secretary under President Barack Obama he was not atypical when he said that any defence cuts would undermine the military’s “ability to protect the nation” and reductions would “invite aggression”.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - The announcement was made on August 15 by Japan’s Finance Ministry: In the last quarter of the year the Japanese economy grew at an annualised rate of 0.2%. “One wonders if the economy will remain at a standstill for the rest of the year”, the Financial Times asks.
But then Japan’s economy has been becalmed for 30 years. Even though the government has poured billions of dollars into the economy it has had only a small effect in boosting demand.
One wonders when the government will give up and what happens then – another decade of minimal growth? If that is what happens how much does it matter?
Viewpoint by Robert J. Burrowes*
DAYLESFORD, Victoria | Australia (INPS) - There is a long history of anti-war and peace activism. Much of this activism has focused on ending a particular war. Some of this activism has been directed at ending a particular aspect of war, such as the use of a type of weapon. Some of it has aimed to prevent a type of war, such as 'aggressive war' or nuclear war. For those activists who regard war as the scourge of human existence, however, 'the holy grail' has always been much deeper: to end war.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) - How far behind the West is China? Is its economy still booming so it could within 20 years overtake America? Is its military becoming of such a strength it will take the big decision to confront the U.S. navy in the South China Sea?
While it is obvious that the Chinese leadership is much more farsighted and cautious than, say, Donald Trump, can one conclude with 100 % certainty that potentially dangerous clashes won’t occur?
The communist leadership believes that before long it will be the world’s biggest economy. Yet if one looks at national income per head it is way down the league table of economic achievers. Size is not everything.
Viewpoint by Robert J. Burrowes*
DAYLESFORD, Victoria | Australia (INPS) - Two of the drivers of world affairs that manifest in the daily decisions that affect our lives are ideology and religion.
Ideology is the term widely used to describe the underlying set of values, myths, ideas, attitudes, beliefs and doctrine that shape the behavioural approach to political, economic, social, cultural and/or ecological activities of an individual or organization.
This organization might be a political party, government, multinational corporation, terrorist group, non-government organization, community or activist group.
Viewpoint by Jonathan Power
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) -The Incirlik air base in southeast Turkey – from which U.S. pilots launch bombing raids on ISIS forces in Syria – is home to about 50 B-61 hydrogen bombs. That makes it NATO’s largest nuclear storage facility.
Each bomb has a yield of up to 170 kilotons, nearly a dozen times more powerful than the weapon that destroyed Hiroshima. The bombs are stored in underground vaults within aircraft shelters that in turn are protected by a security perimeter.
Recently, Incirlik was in the headlines because it appears it was one of the command centres of the attempted coup, meant to topple President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
After the coup had been put down the commander of Incirlik was arrested and charged with complicity in the overthrow attempt.
